Maybe it just takes the sight of Real Salt Lake on the other side of the field to keep the Galaxy’s rapt attention.

That consistent focus the Galaxy have been looking for arrived Saturday night and they rode Gyasi Zardes’ early goal to score a 1-0 victory over RSL at StubHub Center.

The Western Conference rivals, two veteran clubs and recent MLS champions, won’t meet again this season after facing off for the third time. Each picked up a win and a tie in the series and now they’ll keep an eye on each from afar as the playoff chase hits its stride.

With Tommy Meyer and A.J. DeLaGarza at central defense as Omar Gonzalez recovers from a twisted ankle, the Galaxy (6-3-6) snuffed out most of the RSL attack and goalkeeper Jaime Penedo made a crucial stop in the 63rd minute to keep them ahead.

Zardes broke the scoreless tie in the 20th minute after a nifty pass from Marcelo Sarvas and a quick decision from Landon Donovan.

Sarvas drove the ball down the right sideline and sent a cross into the box, where both Donovan and Zardes waited. Donovan let the pass through to Zardes and his shot bounded off the left post and past goalkeeper Nick Rimando into the net.

In fact, it wasn’t only a quick choice on Donovan’s part, he had help.

“I saw Marcelo going wide so I made sure I was in the box,” Zardes said. “I saw Landon had a man open so I told him to leave it and he dummied the ball. If you have an open play you have to speak up and he had a man on him, so you have to say, ‘Leave it.’ If he was wide open, he would have taken that.”

Two minutes later, Zardes nearly struck again when Robbie Keane sent a pass in front. Zardes sprinted and slid in front of an open net, but the ball was just out of his reach.

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“We played a fairly solid 90 minutes tonight,” Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. “We had chances to get a second goal on a few occasions in the second half, which would have made the game a little easier.

“It’s good for us to win a game like this. It’s a good ugly win against a good team. We did a good job in the defensive end of the field. Any time you get a shutout, that speaks volumes for the whole team and their effort.”

Rimando and midfielder Kyle Beckerman were making their return from U.S. World Cup duty for Real Salt Lake (7-4-7). Beckerman also had a chance in the second half, but his shot from the left rolled just wide to the right.

Rimando turned Keane away in the box in the 56th minute, then thwarted the Galaxy again in injury time.

Donovan broke free alone against Rimando and tried to maneuver around him to the goalkeeper’s right, but Rimando dived and slapped the ball off Donovan’s foot to save a sure goal.

A minute later, Rimando was 40 yards out of the goal to stop another Galaxy attempt to go over the top of the RSL defense.

The Galaxy are starting to pick up some momentum and move up in the standings and it could be a fruitful stage of the season for them. For example, they are only four points behind RSL in the standings and have played three fewer games.

Rimando couldn’t get away from everything, though. Donovan and Sarvas went in together and Donovan fed a pass to Sarvas. Who was tripped up by Rimando in the box for a penalty.

Sarvas, though, was stuffed on his penalty kick as Rimando dived to his right. Referee Silviu Petrescu promptly blew the final whistle.

“Donovan let me kick the penalty. That happens,” Sarvas said with a smile. “That’s not the first one we miss this season. I won’t ask anymore to get the penalty. I had my chance.”